Nitish speech a click away

People were glued to their radio sets during Mahatma Gandhi's "Quit India" speech broadcast. In the heyday of the JP Movement, rallies in Gandhi Maidan were telecast when television had just made its debut. This Sunday, Adhikar Rally would be webcast ' a first in the state's history of rallies.

Forget the footfall in Patna during chief minister Nitish Kumar's address to secure rights of people, his admirers and tech-savvy NRIs worldwide would not miss a single word with live webcast being readied by software engineers.

"It will be webcast live from 10am to 3pm worldwide," Sanjay Jha, a confidant of Nitish, told The Telegraph. People will just have to log on to www.biharadhikarrally.com to find out what the leaders have to say.

"IT professionals from Delhi, Pune and Patna have been working for over a month to prepare the website and have the show webcast live," said Jha, stressing that the website would become operational on November 4.

Jha said the live webcast was required because the event would not be telecast outside the state and supporters across the globe should be updated about what is going on at the rally. "The website will have its utility even after the rally. We will keep updating it on the developments related to the demand for special status of the state," Jha added.

The technology being used for the rally is not limited to the webcast. The JD(U) is planning to install 22 LED screens at Gandhi Maidan, where the rally would be organised.

Each screen will be 10ft long and 8ft wide. "Nitish and other JD(U) leaders would be visible from the remotest corner of the ground. It will be like a cricket ground where the crowd can see the proceedings on giant screens. We are expecting a crowd of around one million," a senior JD(U) leader said.

Bihar leaders have been slow to pick up modern technology for political activities after RJD chief Lalu Prasad once mocked IT and computers. It was only after Nitish came to power that the Assembly made a move to provide a laptop to all its legislators. This year, the state government gave its legislators I-pads.